Armed attacks are probably the most feared crimes of all, but just how common is it for guns to play a part in criminal activity in Cheshire? The last in our series of articles from Cheshire Constabulary takes a look at gun culture in the county.

THE idea of armed criminals is a terrifying one - and all too often we read in the national Press about someone losing their life during a bank raid or a mugging.

But despite the closeness of the gang-related violence prevalent in Manchester, Cheshire seems to have escaped developing its own 'gun culture'.

Only a tiny percentage of the crime in Cheshire involves a gun and most of these offences involve air weapons or replicas.

Detective Chief Inspector Jed Manley, Chester and Ellesmere Port's crime manager, said: 'Very few offences involve the use of firearms. That's not to say we are not fully trained and able to deal with such offences, because we are. We have a number of specialist units dedicated to weapons-related issues.

'But we don't have a problem with those types of crimes. Armed offences rarely involve the use of a real firearm.'

Last year the country saw a 3% increase in gun crime - a trend not reflected in Cheshire. But at the moment, nationally, gun crime has taken a back seat to other issues - this year's British Crime Survey concentrates on anti-social behaviour and alcohol-related violence.

That isn't to say the violent criminals have taken a year off, though. Cheshire's violent crime figures, which include gun crime, rose by 30% this year.

These increases have been due mainly to the reclassification of more low-level thug-gery. Now, even someone pushing and shoving in the street, if it is reported to the police, is included in the statistics.

But, despite the changes in the violent crime figures, gun crime in our county only makes up a tiny percentage of the total.

Out of the 92,221 crimes recorded in Cheshire between April 2003 and April 2004 102 offences were described as 'life threatening or involving gun crime' in Chester and Ellesmere Port.

However, any instance of armed crime is considered by Cheshire police as one too many and every incident is taken seriously - whether or not a gun has been seen.

A recent Chester Crown Court case which saw Blacon man Robert John Kaye, an armed robber, jailed for seven years indicates that judges and magistrates also take the incidents very seriously.

Kaye threatened staff at a number of newsagents and petrol stations with a knife during a spate of robberies in and around Chester in the early months of 2004.

Det Chief Insp Manley said: 'The term armed doesn't just mean with a gun. A person can be armed with anything from a stick or butter-knife to a semi-automatic pistol. It means that a planned bank robbery by a gang of professional criminals armed with real guns is recorded in the same category as a mugging by a small-time thug who threatens someone on the street with a stick.

'As with any category of crime figures, it's not as black and white as it seems.'

During May the Cheshire Armed Response Vehicle, on hand 24-hours a day, was called out 84 times. Between January and June the team arrested 42 people and seized 22 weapons. Not a single shot was fired.

Incidents the team dealt with range from one instance of armed robbery to a string of airgun-related incidents. The team was also called into action in a number of other situations, such as teenagers with toy guns, the discovery of imitation grenades on waste ground, sightings of people carrying weapons in cars and hunters with shotguns.

Such has been the change in people's perceptions of weapons that even in quite rural areas the sight of someone with a shotgun can be enough to provoke an emergency call.

Insp Chris Jones of Cheshire Constabulary said: 'Changes in the law mean that carrying guns such as BB guns and air guns in a public place is an offence.

'The change in the law is very welcome. Not only are air weapons potentially dangerous but they, and many BB guns, which are classed as toys, are modelled on far more high-power weapons, in fact, some of them are identical.

'The job of police officers, and especially the crews of Armed Response Vehicles is difficult and dangerous enough, but these guns can be used in crime and officers just don't know what they are going up against.

'Parents also have a responsibility here. From time to time these guns get into the hands of young people who probably don't appreciate the danger. Used irresponsibly the air weapons can maim and even kill people and, again, there is the problem of not being able to tell them apart from really high-power firearms. We want these guns off the streets.'

Det Chief Insp Manley added: 'The majority of people who have weapons have them for legitimate reasons and they are fully above-board in terms of licensing. These legitimate gun holders aren't a worry. Problems occur when weapons get into the wrong hands.'

Police Authority chairman Peter Nurse said: 'Cheshire is still a safe place to live - it has the 18th lowest level of recorded crime out of the 43 police forces in England and Wales.'